The Conscience of Abe’s Turn freedom of speech, defense, and life

It’s one of the ballsiest experiments of my lifetime, stemming from one of the saddest, most infuriating stories of the decade.

KopBusters has a new website up, with KopBusters episode #1 (the Odessa, TX episode) now available for pre-order. Here’s the story so far. (With mocking, rhetorical comments inserted by yours truly at convenient junctures.)

In response to allegations that the Odessa Police Department falsified evidence against Yolanda Madden, who is now spending years in prison as a result of her ordeal, KopBusters orchestrated a sting on the police of Odessa. The KopBusters crew secretly rented a house in Odessa, in which they set up a grow-lamp—similar to those used for growing marijuana—under which they placed two miniature evergreen trees. When the Odessa cops arrived at the site expecting to find drugs, instead they found they were part of an undercover video program, with a network of closed-circuit cameras streaming video over the Internet.

When the KopBusters then asked to see the search warrant affidavit, the police refused. But KopBusters and the Odessa American have now received copies of the affidavit, which says the raid was predicated upon an anonymous letter, allegedly left at the Odessa police department by Pastor Terry Pierce, who pastors a local church. According to the Odessa American, Pastor Pierce denies delivering any such letter and says he’s never heard of Yolanda Madden.

Meanwhile, the Odessa Police Department refuses to discuss the issue, because it’s part of an open investigation. (Or was that “national security”? Let me double-check… Uh, no. It was “open investigation.”)  read more »

A reviewer of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn called it “a fairly overblown story that my mind could not completely wrap around… I can’t understand why a group of professionals who are supposed to be so brilliant are holding protests and playing hippy saboteurs rather than just contacting the Feds and getting their problems solved.” Here’s the real-life analogue, and the real-life reason: because the Feds create problems, not solve them. Just ask Yolanda Madden’s father, interviewed in this new civil-rights video from KopBusters.  read more »

Here’s the story, as handed down by the family of Yolanda Madden:

The police in Odessa, Texas persuaded (or maybe forced) an informant to plant drugs on Yolanda Madden. This informant later testified in federal court that he had planted the false drug evidence. Other evidence (hair and urine) exonerated Yolanda. Even so, she is currently serving an multi-year prison sentence.

This is a story, of course, that many of us have heard many times before. The names and details change, but the story is largely the same. Because this is how drug prohibition works— Or rather, this is how drug prohibition fails us. If you’ve read the Abe’s Turn series, you have surely noticed it also infused with the spirit of these real-life stories.

The pattern of growing police power in order to combat fear, instead of actual crime, and Americans’ nonchalant acceptance of that power, is gradually eroding our security as free citizens. It is one of the most overlooked critical issues in American politics today.

But wait! There’s more to the story!  read more »